What Happens Tomorrow (29 page)

“What’s the problem, little brother, afraid the women in your life prefer a real man to you? They seem to like leaving you for me, don’t they? Hmm…why do you suppose that is, baby brother?” Ethan is doing his damnedest to provoke him and judging by the caustic look on Tyler’s face it’s working. His beautiful blue eyes are dark and full of rage. I’ve never seen or heard him so angry.

“You fucking drugged her, you asshole! She didn’t want you, you delusional prick! She could have fucking died because of the shit you put in her drink and for what? So you could fuck with me?”

I cautiously walk through the back door, stopping both of them dead in their tracks. Hesitantly, I walk towards Tyler. It’s obvious by his rigid stance that he doesn’t want me here.

“Brooke, get the hell out of here. Now! My brother and I have some things to settle and it’s better that you’re not here.”

Ethan rolls his eyes as Tyler tightly clenches the fists that are held tightly to his sides. I don’t recognize the man standing before me. I’ve never seen him like this…completely consumed by rage. I honestly didn’t think he had it in him.

“Jenna, take her home. You two need to go. Now!” he angrily barks out the words which come out as orders.

“Yeah, ladies, let me and my little bro here have some time to work our issues out.” Ethan is enjoying every minute of this; the smug look across his face gives it away. He seems to get off on pissing his brother off.

“Go to hell, Ethan!” I turn to Tyler. “I’m not leaving here without you. Please come home with me.” I grab his hand, but he pulls it away. “No! This has been years in the making and we’re gonna finish this shit once and for all.”

“I’m not leaving here unless you’re with me, Tyler! If you two are going to beat the shit out of each other, you’re going to have to do it with Jenna and I watching.”

With a raised eyebrow, Ethan smiles at his brother, goading him. “Oh, go on, little brother. Go home with your girlfriend. She needs you.”

Tyler lunges forward and I press my body against his, trying to stop him. “Don’t even fucking look at her, do you hear me? If I’d known about this shit when we were in Oregon, you wouldn’t be standing here now.”

Ethan walks around the counter toward Tyler; I don’t have a good feeling about this. “Are you threatening me little brother? You’d better be prepared to follow through on that threat.” I put my hand on Tyler’s chest, trying to get him to feel me, to see me, but before I’m even aware of what’s happening, he pushes me out of his way towards Jenna and heads full speed at his brother.

The cracking sound of Tyler’s fist connecting with Ethan’s jaw is loud. Ethan steadies himself, trying to get his bearings, when Tyler punches him again, square in the nose. He hits the floor with another loud thud.

“You filthy fuck! It’s not bad enough that you fucked my fiancee,” he spits, leaning over Ethan, his face glowing red with rage. I wince as I hear the words fiancee leave his lips; the thought of Tyler with that cold, nasty bitch hurts. “But that wasn’t enough. Then you had to mess with Brooke.”

Ethan sits on the floor completely expressionless, his back against the wooden kitchen cabinets, he doesn’t look Tyler in the face. “What kind of brother does that shit? What kind of person drugs another person? What the fuck did I ever do to you to deserve the shit and grief you’ve given me all my life?”

Pulling himself up off the floor, Ethan leans against the refrigerator for support. “You just don’t get it do you, little brother?”

“No, I don’t, so why don’t you fucking enlighten me.”

Ethan begins to talk in a calmer, almost creepy calm voice. “Everything in life came easy to you. Girls, school, mom and dad’s approval…but I had to work my ass off for everything in life. You went to community college while I had to put myself through law school. Why was it expected of me and not you?” He pauses, pulling his lips in tight. “Mom and Dad always favored your little punk ass while I had to work my own ass off to prove I was worthy of being their son.”

Tyler stands, looking dumbfounded at his brother. I think we all are.

“I couldn’t believe my luck the night that she walked into the bar. Mom said you were going for dinner with your new girlfriend, that girl from your building, and she thought it best if I stayed away since you and I were still at odds. Imagine how it feels not to be welcome in your own parents home because of the prodigal son and his girlfriend.”

Hearing the words from Ethan’s mouth, I can’t help but feel a little sorry for him. “So when she walked into the bar without you…lets just say I saw an opportunity and took it.”

“How in the hell did you know who she was?” Tyler asks.

Ethan looks at his brother with disdain. “Our mother still holds onto the hope that her sons will one day be friends again. I was over a few days before your dinner. Mom was excited that you were happy and dating a girl who lived in your complex, so I pretended to take an interest and she asked if I wanted to see pictures of her. Of course, I jumped at the chance to get intel on your life.”

Tyler rubs his fingertips coarsely across his forehead. “How did she even have pictures of Brooke?”

With his creepy smile curved back on his lips, he continues,“I guess from some barbecue you guys had at your place.” I remember the barbecue because it was Tyler’s birthday six months ago. “Look, I wasn’t going to do anything to her. I just wanted to mess with her so I could mess with you.”

“You piece of shit!” Jenna blurts out. “I was there and you were all over her. You even tried to take her home with you, and might have succeeded if I wasn’t watching.”

Tyler interrupts Jenna as if he didn’t hear a word she just said. “It’s always been about you Ethan, you just don’t see it. I don’t care what you do with Devon the whore, but you
will
stay the fuck away from Brooke or I swear to god I will kill you! Any more shit and Mom and Dad will find out what a fucked up asshole they have for a son!”

He walks over and takes my hand in his, bringing it up to his lips and kissing my knuckle.

“You have no idea how sorry I am that you got dragged into our brotherly feud, and I’m sorry I pushed you out of my way tonight.” I lean my head into the familiar warmth of his chest, hearing his heart pounding against it.

“Do you want me to call the police? He drugged you, and you ended up in the hospital as a result.” I shake my head; I will not be the cause of his family splitting up.

“Baby, look at me,” he whispers. Cupping my face, he leans in to kiss my lips. “I really need you to think about pressing charges.”

I look up, but I can’t look into Tyler’s eyes. “I just want to go home, Tyler. Please…take me home.”

Encasing me in his arms, he nods. “Let’s get my girl home.” He lovingly kisses my forehead. As we start to leave, Tyler turns to his brother. “You’d better make sure that you and that whore you’re with stay far away from us or I promise you, big brother, I will unleash a shit storm of epic proportion. If you don’t believe me, try me!”

Once outside, Jenna says she’s heading home and back to Jasper. Tyler kisses her on the cheek and thanks her for being such a good friend. We climb into Ty’s SUV and watch Jenna drive safely away.

“You okay?” he questions as I try to pull my lips into a convincing smile, hoping to reassure him that I’m okay.

“I am now. You scared me tonight. Waking up to you gone….I’ve never seen you so angry. I was worried.”

He lowers his head, a look of shame on his face. “I’m sorry you had to see that, but I lost my mind tonight thinking of my own brother hurting you.” He looks crushed. “Ethan and I weren’t always like this, you know. He was great when we were kids. I worshiped him. But now look at him.”

I place my hand on his knee in an attempt to pull him away from his thoughts. He looks down at my hand then back at me, his brows still wrinkled, but he smiles.

Placing his hand on top of mine, he starts the car and takes us home.

MORE AND MORE I’ve been dreaming about Matt. It seems the closer Tyler and I get, the more frequent the dreams are.

No matter how much I love Tyler, I still feel guilty. I loved Matt and a part of me always will. He was my first love and the father to my only child.

Looking back at the life we shared, I compare it to what Tyler and I have and I can’t help but notice how polar opposite our relationships are. I put Matt on a pedestal, put our marriage on a pedestal, but now, through my dreams, I question what I thought we had.

Matt is a sports column writer which means he is usually out at some sporting event or at home with the television tuned into some event which means we rarely go out, but I’m fine with it. Matt watches his sports and I read my romance novels in peace and quiet. Seems like a fair trade off.

We’re at a work dinner for the paper he writes for, and I’m feeling out of place. Everyone seems quite a bit older than us and this is the first time I’ve met the majority of the men and women he works with so I want to make a good impression.

The dinner is spectacular and after a few glasses of wine, my nerves settle down. I’m having a terrific time conversing with a couple of the wives about classic romance novels while Matt and a few of the guys head outside to have after dinner cigars. One of the wives excuses herself to the ladies’ room, and when I glance over I notice Matt is also standing next to the ladies’ room with an unlit cigar in hand as he laughs with her. He whispers something in her ear as she playfully pushes him away, her hand resting on his chest. Moments later, her husband walks up to Matt and slaps him on the back as they laugh and walk outside. I don’t see him again until nearly an hour later.

When we get home that night, Matt seems distant. I figure it’s just because he’s tired and has had a few too many drinks. While he’s getting out of his suit, I notice a lipstick stain on his neck, but when I question him about it he immediately gets defensive, saying that he was talking to one of the wives and because the music had been so loud he had to lean in to talk to her and that he probably bumped into her which transferred her lipstick to his neck. I, of course, buy into his explanation. Why wouldn’t I? I have no reason to distrust Matt.

But…

The lipstick was closer to the base of his neck and he was wearing a collared shirt. How did he bump into her lips and get her lipstick that far down his neck but not on his shirt? I shake my head at the thought.

Was Matt cheating on me?